Windows XP Service Pack 3 – No Rush

Posted by: John The Geek

Those of us still using Windows XP are hearing a lot about Service Pack 3 lately.  Windows XP SP3 has been released for a while now and the usual reports of problems are being received from the early adopters who have already installed it.  It’s good that there are those brave (or foolish) enough to install a new service pack as soon as it’s available.  The rest of us can sit back and watch the fireworks from a safe distance!

My advice is to wait a while before installing SP3.  Hewlett-Packard (HP) has warned owners of their PCs with AMD processors not to install SP3.  There is a known problem where the machines continually reboot after SP3 is installed.  That’s just one example of problems found in the field in the short time SP3 has been available to the public.

Any software upgrade of this magnitude is bound to have some glitches.  Windows XP is a very complex piece of software, actually multiple pieces of software, and catching all the potential bugs in the testing process is simply impossible.  There are too many variables with PC configurations and applications for any testing program to cover every possible combination.

If you’re concerned about the end of life of Windows XP SP2, don’t be.  Microsoft will continue to support SP2 until August of 2009, so you have over a year before you have to worry about that.  By that time SP3 will be stable and you’ll probably have installed it long since.

As with most newly released software, unless there’s a feature or bug fix you absolutely have to have, it’s safer to wait until it’s been released long enough for most of the more serious bugs to be found and fixed.  SP3 adds some features, but the vast majority of those features aren’t things that the average user will even notice.  In short, if you’re not sure you need SP3, you don’t, yet.

Here are some related posts from the blogosphere:

Windows XP Service Pack 3 woes – Windows XP holdouts were blinded by a ray of hope with the release of Service Pack 3, a major update consisting of existing patches with a few enhancements thrown in that has been widely reported to significantly boost significant …

Does your AMD-based computer boot after installing XP SP3? – Last night WSUS deployed XP Service Pack 3 to the sole remaining computer running XP that I have. This morning, I came down and was greeted with incessant reboots. The computer booted, apologized for not being able to boot properly, …

HP recommends against installing Windows XP SP3 – Both HP and Microsoft are working to fix problems causing AMD-based PCs to reboot repeatedly after XP Service Pack 3 is loaded. In the meantime, security expert Dr. Jesper Johansson has beaten the companies to the punch by devising a …

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Fix for Restart Bug after installing Windows XP SP3 – You can only use the following information if you use a non-Intel processor and encounter the previously mentioned restart bug after installing Windows XP Service Pack 3. I’m going to list two possible solutions, one from Microsoft and …

Microsoft blocks Windows XP SP3 update to HP PCs Running AMD CPU’s – The recent Windows XP Service Pack 3 update has left certain AMD-based PCs manufactured by Hewlett-Packard caught in an endless reboot (here) cycle caused by an Intel-specific disk image mistakenly being used with AMD hardware. …

[bit-tech] XP SP3 breaks WHS RDP – According to a post on the Windows Home Server Forums provided by Microsoft, users with Service Pack 3 installed on their Windows XP desktop may well find themselves unable to connect to their Windows Home Server box via the Remote …

John The Geek

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